Napoleon Bonaparte's Invasion Of Russia

If human beings did not use the lessons learned by the people before them, we would not have evolved as a species. The lessons of the past heed warning that lead us away from the mistakes our ancestors made. People who ignore these teaching are prone to repeat the mistakes of their ancestors and must therefore suffer that action’s grave consequences again.
Napoleon Bonaparte held a reputation that made him a feared and respected military leader. Yet, his invasion of Moscow in June of 1812 became one of his most noted failures. Napoleon's army managed to take Moscow, but did not account for difficulties that slowed the progress along the way. The cold Russian winter approached the army quickly. Ill equipped to face freezing temperatures, only

10,000 of the 600,000 soldiers sent to Russia made it home alive. A little more than a century later, Hitler planned his own invasion of the Soviet Union. Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa in June of 1941. He knew of Napoleon's invasion of Russia and the devastation Napoleon's army suffered as a result of their leader's mistake, but Hitler failed to actually learn from the lesson that Napoleon's failure taught. He instead insisted his army could make quick work of capturing the Soviet Union. Disregarding the teaching of history, Hitler sent his troops to take the Soviet capital. Winter, however, quickly approached as they faced unprecedented resistance. The Nazi troops were ill prepared for the freezing temperatures and many lost their lives to the cold. Of the men who did survive, many returned home without toes, fingers, ears, or even noses. Hitler could have avoided his defeat had he learned from history. Instead, he committed the same mistakes and, unsurprisingly, faced similar consequences. The allies, however, do not lament his mistake.
The collapse of two dams is another, but lesser known, example of a failure to learn from the past. In 1889, a dam outside of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, collapsed sending 3.6 billions of gallons of water into communities nearby, killing 2,209 people. Engineers and other dam builders accredited the cause of this dam disaster to poor construction and misguided maintenance. Few regulations and laws were created or updated after the disaster. This inaction continued until 1928. The St. Francis Dam outside of Los Angeles, California started to release water along its edges before it digressed under humongous pressure and collapsed. allowing for many to evacuate but not all could escape as estimations place the death toll at 600 people. Lawmakers and regulators indifference to the events of the past cost many people their lives. This incident finally spurred more dam safety legislation, but had people heeded the warning of a past dam collapse, this disaster never would have happened a second time.
The mistakes of the past are indicators that change is needed for the future. Many, however, disregard the lessons history attempts to teach. These people are susceptible to commit the same mistakes, as they do not know of the outcome that is sure to arise. Without knowledge of the past and a willingness to change, human beings will continue to face the same problems and the same results.